It should come as no surprise to those that have been keeping up with the recent GOP debates that the amount of time allotted for each candidate to speak has been uneven.

The Republican newsroom aggregated recent studies by Smart Politics, and Dawn of the Weak to get an idea of the amount of exposure each candidate is receiving. The chart below breaks down the percent of the total debate time commanded by each candidate in the four most recent debates. These figures are displayed alongside the most recent poll figures, as provided by Real Clear Politics, in order to compare the popularity of each candidate to their allotment of debate time.

Jon Huntsman is excluded from the chart because he opted out of the most recent debate in Nevada.

Unequal exposure

The moderator usually kicks things off by saying that each candidate will be given equal time to speak. It sounds good in theory, but it hasn't actually happens yet.

Mitt Romney has received the most debate time by far, totaling 56 minutes over the last four debates. According to Smart Politics:

A Smart Politics content analysis of the New Hampshire debate finds that former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney tallied a full one-quarter of the speaking time given to the GOP field, or precisely double what would be an evenly distributed amount of time between the eight candidates

While it is evident that the candidates have not been receiving equal exposure over the last four debates, it is still unclear how this affects the popularity of each candidate. Despite the fact that Cain has had little time to talk as compared to Romney and Perry, he is currently leading them in the polls.

Is Ron Paul being marginalized?

Supporters of Paul see his low debate exposure as an attempt to silence their outspoken leader.

A movement to change this, called Black THIS Out, states on its website:

You have purposely attempted to marginalize the candidacy, criticize the electability, and mislead the public about the only true small government candidate running for the Republican nomination for President, congressman Ron Paul of Texas.

This seemingly radical group does have some unbiased support. The Smart Politics study mentioned above concluded that Paul has been marginalized in three of the four most recent debates.

Earlier this year, Paul nearly won the Ames Straw Poll, losing to Michelle Bachmann by less than 1 percent of the vote. Despite his success, he received little attention by news stations covering the event. A Politico article pointed to the lack of coverage Paul received after the Ames poll:

Ron Paul, despite his second-place showing in the Ames Straw Poll, is not receiving the same amount of news coverage as his GOP rivals, according to a study released Thursday by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism.